LEWISTON, Idaho -- Second-ranked Cumberland University scored 10 runs in the first two innings and held on to defeat fourth-ranked Lee University 11-9 Tuesday night in a battle of Tennessee baseball teams in the winners-bracket final of the NAIA World Series.
Troy Frazier homered in each of the first two innings and Kris Miller matched his four RBIs for the Lebanon-based Bulldogs (56-9), who play Point Loma Nazarene at 10 EDT tonight after Lee's Flames (51-12) face Embry-Riddle at 6 p.m. EDT. The three schools left besides Cumberland have one loss apiece in the double-elimination tournament that began with 10 teams.
Miller's three-run homer followed by Frazier's solo shot gave the Bulldogs a 5-0 lead before Lee starting pitcher Jay Bolen got an out. Jaime Harper replaced him and got three outs in a row but gave up five hits and five runs the next inning after the Flames got five runs of their own in the bottom of the first.
Nolan Rudman pitched 2 1/3 innings of hitless relief and Aaron Everett worked the last five innings for Lee, allowing just two hits and a run. That run was in the top of the fifth and Cumberland did not score again.
Lee made it 11-8 with a run in the bottom of the fifth and added another in the eighth, when Michael Brown flew out deep to right-center field to end the inning with the tying runs on base. Taylor Comford got a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth, but Trey Burstrom lined out to the first baseman to end the game.
Comford and Junior Rodriguez each was 2-for-4 with three RBIs for the Flames. Rodriguez hit his 16th home run of the season in the first inning, a two-run shot after Tanner Moore's single, and Moore hit his 22nd homer to cut the 10-5 margin to 10-6 in the second. Seth Walker and Egar Molina each was 2-for-5 with an RBI for Lee, Walker scoring three times.
Cumberland leadoff batter Greg Appleton singled and homered in the first two innings and scored the fifth-inning run after walking and stealing second base.
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